The Demon Files Journal - August 1993

August 9, 1993

Well, it's a WRAP! We finished shooting TDF on Sunday at around 3 p.m. The week was long and hard. So, sit right back and enjoy the tale, the tale of a...

It all started on Sunday, August 1st at around 8 a.m. My brother Paul Bauer (camera), Chris Linn (playing the character of Ed), Allison Lyons (audio) and myself (Poole/Director) moseyed our way down to the Arnold Palmer Hospital parking garage. We set the camera (provided by Karim Mitef) on the tripod (provided by Chris Linn) on the top floor of the garage and filmed Chris (as a anonymous driver) dropping me off and walking toward Ed's garage/home. After a few takes of that we used the $30.00 dolly I bought from Builder's Square 2 down in Brandon. We placed it on three pieced of 3 x 4 plywood and shot the close up of Poole's feet exiting the car, and dollying back to show Poole walking away.

After that we set up a shot with the camera's view through a bunch of strategically stacked loading flats and filmed Poole walking toward the garage. That shot turned out very nice. Then we again set up the plywood on the ground for a dolly shot of Poole actually walking up the ramp to Ed's garage. We put some more flats in the foreground to give the dolly shot an extra sense of movement. We ended the location shoot with some audio shots of the car arriving, dropping Poole off, and driving away, as well as just some ambient sound of the location to use to cover possible sound problems when editing.

We then went back to Chris Linn's garage where we filmed the interior of the garage scene. We started with the dolly shot of Ed telling Poole about his drug-sale-gone-bad story. It took quite some time to get it right. The rest of the day is mostly a blur, with the exception of the dolly shot closing out the scene of Poole saying "I need you to go to Apopka." We had to do that about a million times. We got done between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., exhausted from the intense heat felt all day. It wasn't the smartest thing to schedule a shoot during the first week of August, but it was the only time I could get the actors, so the suffering was worth it.

Monday turned out to be a day of rest. I went to the Orlando Public Library to shoot the library scenes, but it was amazingly busy for a Monday morning. There were a lot of school kids around and the library wasn't too keen on the idea, so it turned out to be a day of just resting.

Tuesday was a light day. Steve Holland (camera) and I filmed Poole arriving in his home town down at the train station right next to the location we used for Ed's garage Sunday morning. The shots turned out really well and I'm very pleased. Later that day Sarah Peacock arrived and we rehearsed, made some nice discoveries about the characters, and then had a very deep and lively discussion about religion and society.

Wednesday was a day in hell. We filmed the Caldwell house and attic scenes. We filmed the Attic scene first in Jym Buss' garage. Ali couldn't make it that day, so it was only Sarah Peacock (as Nicole), Maggie Rasnick (as Caldwell), Steve Holland (Camera) and myself. It was stiflingly hot in the garage and the shoot seemed to take forever. Jym forgot to leave me the key, so I was going to have to drive out to Nick and pick it up. Fortunately, the Lord was shining down on us, cause Jym's new roommate showed up and opened up the place for us. I have to tell you the heat in the garage was amazing. It was so draining. Even though we had spent a good 4 hours in 110 degree heat, we kept saying "Man, it's hot!" like it was a new discovery. It was amazing. After the Attic scene we filmed the interior of the Caldwell house using Jym's dining room. The shots turned out nice. Then, we finished the day filming Nicole and Poole arriving at the house. I'm really quite happy with the shots.

When I got home, around 3:00 p.m., I was absolutely exhausted. Sarah went to visit a friend in Daytona and I crashed on the couch. About an 1 1/2 hours later Rachel Tench arrived. When I woke up I felt like I could've slept another eight hours. It literally took me another three hours to "wake up." It turned out the Steve Holland had a similar experience. We later realized that we probably had mild heat exhaustion since we didn't really drink a lot of fluid while we were sweating to death in the garage. We didn't make that mistake again.

We expected PB to arrive in town around 4. Rachel and I waited until 8:30 and she went to sleep over Maggie Rasnick's. After a few agonizing hours and increasingly frantic calls to his home in Miami, PB arrived around 10:30 p.m. He got a late start and had to fight traffic all the way up. I was quite relieved he was okay. I went to bed as soon as I got off the phone and struggled to wake up the next morning.

Thursday went very well, even though the workload was quite heavy. Steve and I had gone over the shots the day before and came prepared. Since we were filming in Chris Linn's garage for the police station scenes, we were determined not to have the same experience we had the day before in Jym's garage. It was also a great help to have Ali there for the audio. It's amazing what one more body can do to speed up production.

Anyway, the day went very quick and very well. We got done around 4 p.m. The highlight of my day was when Dea, my wife, and DC, my one-month old, came up to see me. I was so excited. When they left that night I was incredibly depressed. Just when I was getting comfortable with my baby again, off they went, back to Clearwater. It was very hard on me. And I'm sure being totally exhausted at this point didn't help either. As far as the filming goes, we got some really good shots. I'm sure this won't turn into another HOMESICK. If all else fails, the shots will be interesting and intriguing. It was a good day and the garage didn't really get hot until around 4 that night.

Friday was reminiscent of THE TERM PAPER. We started around 6 p.m. inside Chris Linn's house. Steve was unable to make it and Ali had to work, so it was only Paul, Sarah and I. Things started off slowly. Sarah, being a morning person, started to fade quickly. Paul, not used to the efficiency Steve and I had developed, started off lackadaisical. I, on the other hand, realized the long night we had in front of us. After the first scene (the Cafe scene moved to Nicole's house at dinner), which should have taken only an hour to shoot, ended up taking about 3 1/2, I decided a little directorial sternness was in order. After Paul and Sarah started joking around while we were trying to get a scene shot my face filled with controlled anger and said "Look, we need to be a little more professional here! I don't want to be here all night!" then I quickly walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. When I returned their focus had changed and we worked hard and consistently through the night. We ended up finishing at 7 in the morning! It was long, tiring, and mentally exhausting. But, again, we got some really good shots.

We got back to the apartment and showered. Sarah drove home and Paul and I prepared for Bob Swan (Miles) to arrive. He got there at 8 a.m. and we went to the Winter Park train station to shoot the opening of the story. As Paul and I were entirely exhausted at this point, the filming went quickly and efficiently. Again, the Lord shined down on us, and we were lucky to have a train arrive as we were finishing up, so we have a nice shot of Poole waiting for the approaching train. Bob then treated us to a much needed breakfast at the IHOP and Paul and I went home and crashed. After about 5 hours we woke up and saw "DAVE" at the dollar theater. It was a tremendous movie. On the drive home we both felt bad because we weren't the best of company for Bob. We were just so exhausted.

Sunday, we ended our shooting! We started by getting the Lake shots for the Voice Overs. Then, after we concocted some blood from Karo Syrup, flour and red food coloring, we filmed the opening murder scene at the lake behind our apartment. That went surprisingly easy. We then went to the library and sneaked the shots before anyone could stop us. After that we came home and did the newspaper article close-ups and the close-up of the knife marks in the floor for the Attic scene. Paul then left around 3 p.m. After about a 2 hour nap I got up and did the voice-overs. I wanted to do something that night, but I was so tired, I really couldn't.

Today, I'm back at Nick and I'm dubbing the Hi-8's onto VHS on Chris Gifford's machine while he's up in New York. Then I'm going to make a rough cut on the editing equipment in Edit 3, if I can scam it. I hope to have the tapes dubbed to Beta this week, if things are slow in the tape room. I'll keep you informed.

Until next time. PFB